I WANT TEDDY'S SAUSAGE

Recently, meat maestro Teddy stopped me as I was coming back from walking our pooch and told me he had a surprise for me. It seems the day before Teddy broke his sausage cherry by using his brand new sausage making machine. He ground his own pork and put them in the casings he spent all day tracking down in Chinatown. He tried to lower my expectations by telling me that they were too "garlicky." Serena, who had some of Teddy's sausage the night before (clever) told me she liked it just fine.

Now, the question was: "How should I prepare them?" Teddy, knowing I'm trying to lose weight, suggested baking them but that seemed sacrilegious to me. And a simple fry wasn't good enough. I settled on a braise. When I'd gone to London years ago I had some sausage that I still dream about from these French brothers at a Camden Market food stall.

I could never find the right kind of sausage here in the states so I figured Teddy's was as close I was going to get. It wasn't close to their recipe (if anyone has it- send it to me!) but it was good for inspiration.

I started by using my new favorite Le Creuset by browning those babies in some olive oil.

Next, I threw in whatever veg I had on hand: some onion and sweet potato.

I let those cook for about five minutes and deglazed the pan with a shot of Port.

I then added a little chicken stock I had left over in the fridge and threw it all into a 350 degree oven for about forty minutes.


The final result was a tasty looking sausage and a not-so tasty looking gruel that looked like something out of Dickens novel.


No matter, the gruel was pretty tasty but the sausages were fucking brilliant. The braise made them as tender as hell. But, the great thing was the casing's integrity held it all together and yet, inside, the meat was almost crumbling out. It was perfect. Suzanne and I gobbled them up with some string beans (still trying to be healthy). All in all a great treat for a cold January night…thanks Teddy!